The Beginning of the End Part 5
by jediknightwing
Summary: The final member is recruited. But as some members of this makeshift team seem to get along, others do not, as an altercation threatens to tear them apart.


                                                                              The Beginning of the End

                                                                                                                        Part 5

Elsewhere.....

 In a tranquil neighborhood, the Kinomoto household stands magnificent and stately among the other residental habitations. Inside this domesticated dwelling, young Sakura has invited Li Shaoron over. Li, who at one time was her rival in obtaining the Clow Cards, will now attempt to decipher her odd premonitions; visions of an event of such large scale grandiose, that threaten their very existense. Kero, formerly known as Kereberos, the Beast Guardian of the Seal, who now appears to resemble a stuffed teddy bear with wings, hovers over Sakura's left shoulder.

"I'm not really sure what I can do, Sakura," said Li. "I mean, I don't even have any of the cards anymore, you do. If anything, the Time Card should be able to tell you what you need to know."

"I've tried using the Time Card, but it doesn't help," replied Sakura. "I just can't get a fix on the problem. If anything, it just comes out cloudy, like it's too big to understand."

"So what can I do?" asked Li. 

"We were hoping your compass might help," answered Kero. "If Sakura uses the Time Card in conjecture with your compass, it might help clear away the haze that prevents her from seeing her visions more clearly. So, did you bring it?"

"Of course," said Li, presenting the compass. "So, you know what to do?"

Sakura nods. Insuring that no one was presently at home, save for herself and her company, she then begins to speak her incantations; 

"The Key which hides powers of the dark, 

Show your true form before me!

I, Sakura, command you under our contract!

RELEASE!!!!"

Magically, surrounded by the symbols of the Clow, her key-like pendant grows, until finally taking the shape of her Clow staff. Sakura then takes out the Time Card, and motions for Li to begin as well. Li, upon taking her cue, places the compass on the floor, and sitting legs folded into each other, recited his spell;

"Imperial King of Gods. 

Thy divinity watches over all four corners.

Metal, wood, water, fire, earth, thunder, wind, lightning.

Imperial King of Gods. 

Thy divinity watches over all four corners.

Metal, wood, water, fire, earth, thunder, wind, lightning.

Whirling blades of lightning, answer my call!"

The compass illuminates, until a light is flashed upwards toward the sky. Sakura then tosses the Time card into the air. Using the staff, she prepares once again to cast her spell;

"Time, fold back the passages of the moment." She then strikes at the card, using the end of her staff. "TIME!!"

The essence of the Time Card is released, and the apparition representing time envelops the light projected by the compass.  A length-wide simulacrum of the universe is presented before their eyes. A galaxy of stars and planets, majestic in its place, are spread across the extensive cosmos. Suddenly, and without warning, it happens. Stars begin to go supernova. Planets explode. Suns implode. Meteors are ripped apart. What was once a glorious spectacle, is now a horrific vision of destruction. And in the centermost of it all, a silver-haired man with an unusually large glove on his left hand laughs maniacally. Then, slowly, he turns toward the front of the vision.

"Enjoying the spectacle, children?" Sephiroth asked, a sinister grin present on his face.

Sakura gasps. "Time Card, Return now!!!" she commands.

Quickly, in a brilliant flash of light, the image disappears, and the Time Card returns to its original form, that of a Clow Card. Sakura is breathing heavily, and stumbles backward, almost bumping her head on her dressing cabinet. Li gets up, and grabs Sakura before she could fall.

"Sakura!" said Li, with apprehension in his voice. "Sakura, it's over! He's gone, it's done! Please Sakura, just relax!"

"Sakura," asks Kero, also concerned. "Are you okay?"

Sakura takes a moment to regain her breath, then holds her hand up, as if to assure Li that she is indeed allright. Another moment passes, before she finally answers.

"Who," she began, her voice trembling a bit. "Who was that? Why is he doing such horrible things?"

"He is called Sephiroth," the Voice said, speaking out of nowhere. 

Sakura gasped. "Who's there!?!"

Kero also looked stunned. "You. What are you doing here?"

Sakura looked at him. "Kero, you know this voice?"

Kero hovered in the air, almost oblivious to the question Sakura asked, and looking as if he had seen a ghost. "It can't possibly be time. Not now. Not yet!"

"I am sorry, Kereberos, but the events that have transpired can no longer be ignored. As much as I regret this, the Mistress of the Clow is needed to help save the universes."

"She's not going anywhere, not without me!" demanded Li, clenching his fists.

"Indeed, you as well are also needed, Shaoron of the Li clan." the Voice said. "As a desendant of Clow Reed, your abilities, as well as your compass, will be of good use to us."

Li looked surprised by that last statement. "How, how did you know where I was desended from? Or for that matter, my name? Who are you?"

"All will be answered in due time," the Voice answered. "Please, you must help us."

"Sakura," Kero began, not even looking at her. "I....."

"No, Kero, it's allright." answered Sakura, cutting him off before he could continue. "I trust you, and if you speak for her, then I'll go."

Kero then looked up, a startled look on his face apparent. "Of, of course Sakura. You, you should trust me."

"Kero," asked Sakura. "Everything will be allright, won't it?" 

"Sure it will," answered Kero, putting up a brave front. "Why wouldn't it?" Then, using his mind, spoke to the Voice. _You will tell her, won't you?_

_Yes, I will, answered the Voice, also speaking to him voiceless. __When the time is right. _

Li looked at Kero, suspicion in his eyes. _He knows something, he thinks to himself. __But what?_

Elsewhere......

 Washu's Laboratory, in a pocket dimension, outside of normal space. It is in here that some of the universes greatest young heroes are gathered together. Some by choice, others by a small miscalculation on Washu's part. It is at this moment that Robin can be seen supervising the maintenance on the Super-Cycle with Washu's assistance, while the other members of the Young Justice team, Kon-El, Bart, and Cassie, and the young Saiya-jin, Gohan, who under normal circumstances would never have met before, are now becoming cordial to each other.

"So let me get this straight," said Kon, speaking to Gohan. "Your dad, Goku, right? Your dad was sent to earth to destroy it, but instead, he grew up with your granddad, then was trained by this guy Master Roshii, learned to become a Super-Saiya-jin, and was then a protector of Earth. Am I right so far?"

"Pretty much," replied Gohan. "The Saiya-jins were a really violent race, and under different circumstances, he probably would have turned out just like them. Luckily, it never happened like that, and I had some great teachers because of him, like Mr. Piccolo. But my Dad was the one who helped bring out my Saiya-jin powers in the Hyperbolic Chamber. My dad taught me everything I know as far as being a Super-Saiya-jin goes. Everything I am, I owe to him. But most important, he was always there for me, encouraging me, and pushing me to be the best. He's a great Dad, too."

"Awww!" cooed Cassie. "That is so sweet! It's really cool that you love your dad the way you do. I'll bet he's really proud of you, too!"

Gohan smiled. "I like to think so, Cassie."

"Huh," pondered Bart. "Who would have thought that possible? I mean, rocketed away from your original home, raised by adopted parents, and grew up to be a hero. Man, I wish I knew someone like that!"

"Miss Washu," said Robin, "I have a question for you, if you don't mind."

"Of course, Robin, go right ahead," replied Washu.

"Well," began Robin, "this whole thing about needing the Super-Cycle because it's sentient, there's a little more to it than that, isn't there? I mean, you seem smart enough to create sentient equipment on your own. So why the Cycle?"

Washu thought for a minute before answering. "The Cycle has something within it that will be required later. And as far as creating sentient equipment, I'm afraid that would take too long for me to develop in the short time that we have. I needed something that was already built, so when I saw the capabilites of your Cycle, I retreived it."

"And brought all of us here in the meantime," added Robin.

"I'm sorry about that," offered Washu. "I promise that as soon as I can, I'll send you all home." It was just as she said that that a light flashed on her control panel. "Well, look at that, more guests have arrived!" She pressed another switch, and faced the opposite wall.

Once again the portal opened, and the Magic Knights, Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu, led by Mage Master Clef, stepped through. The girls were dressed in their school uniforms, ivory colored armor breastplates with gold trim worn over top of their outfits. Clef himself was adorned in his ceremonial white mage's robe, and carrying his large wooden staff, adorned with multi-colored gems. The girls looked around in amazement at the spacious laboratory.

"Amazing," noted Hikaru. "This is as big as our gymnasium at school!"

"I would say as big as a stadium!" added Umi. "Three stadiums, in fact!"

"And all of those computers," remarked Fuu. "It appears to resemble the inside of an aeronautics control room."

Clef made his way toward Washu. "Miss Washu," he began. "I can not thank you enough for erecting the force field that even now protects Cephiro. On behalf of the people of Cephiro, I thank you." He offers a courteous bow to her.

"No problem," smiled Washu, "Glad I could help!"

Suddenly also stepping, or rather, hopping through the portal, the rabibit-like Mokona hopped through the portal. "Puu Puuu!" it chimed.

"Mokona!" cried Umi. "What are you doing here? You shouldn't be here right now, this isn't a playroom!"

"It appears Sir Mokona began to miss us," explained Fuu. 

Mokona hopped past the girls, and toward the Super-Cycle. The girls tried to stop it, but couldn't manage to contain the overactive rabbit-like creature. "Puu Puuu!" It continued hop around, dashing past Gohan and the gathered Young Justice team.

"Hey, check it," commented Kon. "they'we huntin' wabbits! Huh huh huh huh huh!"

"Oh, that is so weak, Kon," groaned Cassie, her hand placed on her forehead.

"Be glad he didn't do the Energizer joke," noted Bart.

"Mokona, stop!" called Hikaru, chasing after it. But Mokona continued to dash around, before finally jumping into Robin's arms. Hikaru stopped short of him, and paused. For a moment, the red-haired Magic Knight forgot all about Mokona, as she seemed to be mesmerized by him, her eyes sparkling as she stared at this masked stranger.

"Oh," she offered, a nervous tone creeping up in her voice. "I'm, uh, I'm sorry about Mokona. He sometimes likes to play around a lot."

Robin walked up to her and handed her Mokona. "Cute pet," he remarked.

"Oh, uh, Mokona's not my pet," Hikaru tried to explain. "He's....he's....."

Hikaru felt his hands brush against hers as she accepted Mokona back from him. _He's so handsome, she thought to herself._

"Excuse me," said Robin, slowly moving away. "I really have to check on the Cycle. Maintenence, and all that."

"Oh, sure that's fine," said Hikaru, still in a bit of a daze. "Um, could I, uh, could I ask what your name is? I'd, uh, I'd like to be able to call you." She then quickly corrected himself. "Uh, uh, that is, call you by name, I mean!" 

Robin looked at her, a curious look apparent on his face. "Call me Robin. What's yours?"

"H-Hikaru," she said nervously. "Hikaru Shidou."

Robin nodded. "Nice to meet you, Hikaru." He then went to work on the Cycle.

Umi then with a bit of mischief snuck up on Hikaru. "You're blushing, you know," she teased.

Hikaru snapped out of her trance. "What? No I, uh, I don't know what you mean! We were just talking, that's all!"

"He is quite handsome, isn't he?" added Umi. "And with his mask, he's somewhat mysterious, too. Just like Zorro, right?"

"Umi, please, we just talked, that's all!" defended Hikaru. A smile began to creep up on her face as she thought of him. _But we will talk again, she thought to herself, her face indeed beginning to blush. _

Cassie placed her hand over her mouth in an attempt to surpress a snicker. "Oh, Hera, Robin the Boy Romeo does it again!" she said silently.

"Um, Mr. Kon, why is that girl turning red?" asked Gohan, pointing at Hikaru.

Kon put a hand to the side of his mouth, as if to whisper to him. "It's the cape. Chicks dig the cape."

Gohan scratched his head. _What does a cape have to do with anything? He thought._

Then, at that moment, another portal opened, this time a larger one. Slowly dropping into place, was the enormous Nataku Gundam. Washu acted quickly, and threw up a protective force field, to prevent the exposed vacuums from claiming any of her guests. Once the Gundam touched down, the portal was closed, and the force field was dropped.

"Oh, wow, cool!!" exclaimed Bart. "A giant robot! Does it transform?"

"Well, it looks like all the pieces are finally brought together," remarked Washu. She began to scan it when she noticed something. 

"Uh-oh," she remarked. "I'm reading a bio-pattern here. Could this thing be alive?"

Just as she made that comment, a hatch in the Gundam's mid-section opened, and Wufei stepped out. He looked around, as if to survey his surroundings.

"Well, what do you know?" said Washu. "This thing had a pilot!" She called up to him. "Hey you, hold on one second!" She pressed a switch on her pad, and a mobile platform hovered up to the pilot area of the Gundam. "Just go ahead and step on that, and It'll bring you down!"

Wufei stepped on the platform, and it began to descend. The platform lowered halfway down, when all of a sudden, Wufei leaped off, and with amazing acrobatic skill, landed right behind where Fuu was standing, and brandishing his sword, placed the blade close to her throat as he held her close to himself.

"Fuu!" exclaimed Umi and Hikaru in unison.

"Is that guy nuts?" remarked Kon.

"We gotta do something," observed Cassie. "That girl's in trouble!"

"Someone better explain to me where I am, or I swear by the colonies I will end this girl's life!" threatened Wufei. "And that explaination had better come soon, for her sake!"

To Be Continued.


End file.
